from the publisher's website After seventeen years at sea, Greenlaw decided it was time to take a break from being a swordboat captain, the career that would later earn her a prominent role in Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm and a portrayal in the subsequent film. She felt she needed to return home -- to a tiny island seven miles off the Maine coast with a population of 70 year-round residents, 30 of whom are her relatives. She would pursue a simpler life; move back in with her parents and get to know them again; become a professional lobsterman; and find a guy, build a house, have kids, and settle down. But all doesn't go quite as planned. The lobsters resolutely refuse to crawl out from under their rocks and into the traps she and her sternman (AKA, her father) have painstakingly set. Her fellow Islanders, an extraordinary collection of characters, draw her into their bizarre Island intrigues. Eligible bachelors prove even more elusive than the lobsters. And as mainlanders increasingly fish waters that are supposed to be reserved for Islanders, she realizes that the Island might be heading for a "gear war," a series of attacks and retaliations that have been known to escalate from sabotage of equipment to extreme violence. Then, just when she thinks things couldn't get too much worse, something happens that forces her to reevaluate everything she thought she knew about life, luck, and lobsters. Greenlaw employs throughout her talent for fascinating nautical description and her eye for the dramas of small-town life as she tells a story that is both hilarious and moving. She also offers her take on everything from retrieving engines that have actually gone overboard, to the best way to cook and serve a lobster. The Lobster Chronicles is a must-read for everyone who loves boats and the ocean (and lobsters), everyone who has ever reached a crossroads in life, and everyone who has wondered what it would be like to live on a very small island. A celebration of family and community, this is a book that proves once again that fishermen are still the best story-tellers around. (timspalding)… (more)

Linda Greenlaw, America’s only female swordfishing captain, is author of three New York Times bestselling books about life as a commercial fisherman: THE HUNGRY OCEAN (1999), THE LOBSTER CHRONICLES (2002) and All Fishermen Are Liars (2004). She is the winner of the U.S. Maritime Literature Award in 2003, and the New England Book Award for nonfiction in 2004. Time Magazine called her 2005 RECIPES FROM A VERY SMALL ISLAND, co-authored with her mother Martha Greenlaw, a "must-have cookbook". Additionally, she’s written two mysteries: SLIPKNOT (2007) and FISHERMAN’S BEND (2008). (GibsonsB)… (more)

This month's special guest is Linda Greenlaw, for her new book Life-Saving Lessons, a dramatic story of perhaps the most unexpected of all of Greenlaw’s many adventures—becoming a mother. In this chronicle of becoming a mother to a troubled teenage girl, Greenlaw's fans will be delighted by her trademark candor and down-to-earth style of storytelling, and will see a side of her that's never been revealed before. Linda Greenlaw is America’s only female swordfish boat captain and was featured in the book and film The Perfect Storm as well as in the Discovery Channel’s Swords: Life on the Line. The Chuckanut Radio Hour, a recipient of Bellingham's prestigious Mayor's Arts Award, is a radio variety show that began in January 2007. Each Chuckanut Radio Hour features a guest author and includes guest musicians, performance poet Kevin Murphy, Cascadia Weekly columnist Alan Rhodes, an episode of "The Bellingham Bean" serial radio comedy, and some groaner jokes by hosts Chuck & Dee Robinson and announcer Rich Donnelly. The Chuckanut Radio Hour's first guest was Erik Larson and has since included Alexander McCall Smith, Elizabeth George, Cheryl Strayed, Sherman Alexie, Tom Robbins and Garrison Keillor, among many others. The Radio Hour airs every Saturday evening at 6pm and Sunday at 9pm on SPARK RADIO, KMRE 102.3FM. Tickets for the Chuckanut Radio Hour are $5 and are available at Village Books and at BrownPaperTickets.com. Tonight's musical guest is the local group Stirred Not Shaken. Doors open at 6:30pm, and you must be seated by 6:45pm as the show begins promptly at 7pm. Co-sponsored by Whatcom Community College Foundation, 12th Street Shoes, and Westside Pizza.